GAY INFO

clubs:

Virgin 2002 - Sweet Dreams - A dance club,  Every Thursday night 24:00.
Located in Huzot Hamifratz shoping center, Haifa Bay. Website: Virgin2002

Luna - A dance bar. Dance music and house, drag shows and surprises. Every Friday night from 11:30 p.m.. Location: down town,in Wadi Saliv, Hamam El Pasha, near the main Post Office Shikmona.
Web-site: Luna2001

Coffee Places:

Bei-nenu - Gay friendly. Located in Hadar, no.94 Hilel st., nice and warm, most things test great. It's the only real Gay friendly cafe in Haifa.

Cafe Katan - Gay friendly. Located in Hadar, no.22 Masada st., small and nice.

Mandarin - Gay friendly. Located in the "Carmel Center". New and trendy.

Cafe Neto - Gay friendly. Near the Carmel Center and the Cinematec, no.11 Moria st'.

Safta - bar-cafe, Gay friendly, on the corner of Balfor st. and Hilel st., Nice and small, Wednsday night are Women Only and Monday night are for Men.

The Beach:

Atlit - An open beach area, with some nude people in season. When you turn in Atlit go straight to the beach and it's about 500 meter to the north of the road.

The Park:

Gan Hazicaron - Memorial Park. Just apposite the city hall. Active at night time.

GENERAL INFO

Buy

Haifa's mountainous location makes it quite unfriendly for pedestrian, therefore shopping avenues are rare . The shops that can be found in the city center offer a cheap and essential variety.

On the Other hand, Haifa has a well known reputation in Israel for its wide variety of malls and shopping centers such as the kiryon, kastra center, Kanyon Haifa and 'lev hamifratz'. Grand Kanyon is considered to be the newest and biggest mall, including international brand names such as Armani, Lacoste Benetton and Zara among local brands and a wide food court.

Eat

The city's selection of restaurants includes mostly cheap but tasty falafel counters and Arabic restaurants, located in the port area (lower city). 'hazkenim', 'michel' and 'orion' are some of the authentic and recommended counters. The local Turkish variation of turning kebab, Schwarma, is also very common and can be found in 'hazan' chain and 'jibli'.

Drink

Central Mount Carmel offers a decent selection of mid class restaurants, cafe's and bars, such as Fusion noodle house 'Giraffe', Japanese 'Tatami' and trendy cafe's such as 'Greg' and 'tut'. 'Frangelico' and 'barbarossa' Nipples are consindered to be the most popular bars in the city's chic carmal area while the legendery old fashioned 'Maayan Habira' on the lower part of it city is more popular among adult crowd



Landmarks

* Bahá'í World Centre, on Mount Carmel's northern slope. Comprising the golden-domed Shrine of the Báb, terraced gardens and administrative buildings, the World Centre is the holiest site of pilgrimage for the members of the Bahá'í Faith, as well as the faith's central administrative center. The gardens are stunning and well worth visiting if you are in Haifa. Tours must be booked, although they are free, and are limited (tel. 04-8313131).

* Cave of Elijah - Elijah is considered a prophet by both Judaism and Islam. The Carmelites have a tradition that they were founded by Elijah at this time. According to tradition Elijah lived in a cave on Mt. Carmel during the reign of King Ahab.

* Stella Maris, a French Carmelite church, monastery and hospice. This is the founding place of the Carmelite Order, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Located atop Mount Carmel, there is a hiking trail connecting it to the Cave of Elijah below.

* German Colony - in 1868 members of German Templar Society (not to be confused with the Knights of the Templars) purchased land that was far from the city and set out to build the first planned agricultural community in the Holy Land. Many of the original templar houses have preserved and undergone restoration in the last decade of XX century. Now the main street of the former colony (Ben Gurion Boulevard) is a promenade, with many restaurants and coffee shops. The City History Museum and the local Tourist Board are located here.

* University - located at the top of Carmel, the campus was originally designed by the architect of Brasilia and UN building in New York, Oscar Niemeyer. Newer buildings were added later. The top 30th floor of the Eshkol Tower, provides an incredible view of almost the entire North of Israel. The campus is also a home of Hecht Museum with its rich archeology and art collections.

* Druze Villages - 30min by sherut or longer by bus to the top of Mt. Carmel

Museums and Galleries

* National Maritime Museum, 198 Allenby Street, tel 04-8536622

* Haifa Museum of Art, 26 Shabtai Levi Street, tel 04-8523255 - presents rotating exhibitions of modern art.

* Hecht Museum - University of Haifa campus, tel 04-8257773, fax 04-8240724, email mushecht@research.haifa.ac.il, free admission. Features large archaeological exhibits and an art wing with 19th and 20th century painting and sculpture, including works by Corot, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Van-Gogh, Soutine and Modigliani.

* Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, 89 Hanassi Ave., tel. 04-8383554. The museum was founded in the year 1959, at the joint initiative of Felix Tikotin, a known collector of Japanese art. The museum present rotating exhibitions of old and modern Japanese art.

* Haifa Zoo and Botanic Garden, situated in Gan ha-Em in Central Carmel.